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Carlos Ghosn, the person credited with saving Nissan from total collapse and bringing it together with Renault and Mitsubishi finds himself in very hot water. Today, Ghosn was detained by Japanese authorities in Tokyo over the suspected breach of Japanese financial laws.
During a press conference this morning, Nissan CEO Hiroto Saikawa explained that Ghosn under-reported his income and used corporate assets for personal use. Another executive, Greg Kelly (Nissan's director of human resources) is also involved.
"The investigation showed that over many years both Ghosn and Kelly have been reporting compensation amounts in the Tokyo Stock Exchange securities report that were less than the actual amount, in order to reduce the disclosed amount of Carlos Ghosn's compensation," Nissan said in a statement today.
"Also, in regards to Ghosn, numerous other significant acts of misconduct have been uncovered, such as personal use of company assets, and Kelly's deep involvement has also been confirmed."
Saikawa said that the two would be removed from their posts during a board meeting on Thursday.
While many consider Ghosn to be a hero, he is also quite controversial. A lot of this comes down to his compensation. Ghosn got paychecks from his numerous roles as "chairman of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance, CEO of Renault, and chairman of both Nissan and Mitsubishi." According to Bloomberg, Ghosn took home about $17 million from the three companies.
Ghosn's arrest also calls into question to the future of the alliance between Nissan, Renault, and Mitsubishi.
Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required), Bloomberg, Nissan
Regarding serious misconduct by Nissan Chairman and one representative director
YOKOHAMA, Japan – Based on a whistleblower report, Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. (Nissan) has been conducting an internal investigation over the past several months regarding misconduct involving the company's Representative Director and Chairman Carlos Ghosn and Representative Director Greg Kelly.
The investigation showed that over many years both Ghosn and Kelly have been reporting compensation amounts in the Tokyo Stock Exchange securities report that were less than the actual amount, in order to reduce the disclosed amount of Carlos Ghosn's compensation.
Also, in regards to Ghosn, numerous other significant acts of misconduct have been uncovered, such as personal use of company assets, and Kelly's deep involvement has also been confirmed.
Nissan has been providing information to the Japanese Public Prosecutors Office and has been fully cooperating with their investigation. We will continue to do so.
As the misconduct uncovered through our internal investigation constitutes clear violations of the duty of care as directors, Nissan's Chief Executive Officer Hiroto Saikawa will propose to the Nissan Board of Directors to promptly remove Ghosn from his positions as Chairman and Representative Director. Saikawa will also propose the removal of Greg Kelly from his position as Representative Director.
Nissan deeply apologizes for causing great concern to our shareholders and stakeholders. We will continue our work to identify our governance and compliance issues, and to take appropriate measures.
View full article

Carlos Ghosn, the person credited with saving Nissan from total collapse and bringing it together with Renault and Mitsubishi finds himself in very hot water. Today, Ghosn was detained by Japanese authorities in Tokyo over the suspected breach of Japanese financial laws.
During a press conference this morning, Nissan CEO Hiroto Saikawa explained that Ghosn under-reported his income and used corporate assets for personal use. Another executive, Greg Kelly (Nissan's director of human resources) is also involved.
"The investigation showed that over many years both Ghosn and Kelly have been reporting compensation amounts in the Tokyo Stock Exchange securities report that were less than the actual amount, in order to reduce the disclosed amount of Carlos Ghosn's compensation," Nissan said in a statement today.
"Also, in regards to Ghosn, numerous other significant acts of misconduct have been uncovered, such as personal use of company assets, and Kelly's deep involvement has also been confirmed."
Saikawa said that the two would be removed from their posts during a board meeting on Thursday.
While many consider Ghosn to be a hero, he is also quite controversial. A lot of this comes down to his compensation. Ghosn got paychecks from his numerous roles as "chairman of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance, CEO of Renault, and chairman of both Nissan and Mitsubishi." According to Bloomberg, Ghosn took home about $17 million from the three companies.
Ghosn's arrest also calls into question to the future of the alliance between Nissan, Renault, and Mitsubishi.
Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required), Bloomberg, Nissan
Regarding serious misconduct by Nissan Chairman and one representative director
YOKOHAMA, Japan – Based on a whistleblower report, Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. (Nissan) has been conducting an internal investigation over the past several months regarding misconduct involving the company's Representative Director and Chairman Carlos Ghosn and Representative Director Greg Kelly.
The investigation showed that over many years both Ghosn and Kelly have been reporting compensation amounts in the Tokyo Stock Exchange securities report that were less than the actual amount, in order to reduce the disclosed amount of Carlos Ghosn's compensation.
Also, in regards to Ghosn, numerous other significant acts of misconduct have been uncovered, such as personal use of company assets, and Kelly's deep involvement has also been confirmed.
Nissan has been providing information to the Japanese Public Prosecutors Office and has been fully cooperating with their investigation. We will continue to do so.
As the misconduct uncovered through our internal investigation constitutes clear violations of the duty of care as directors, Nissan's Chief Executive Officer Hiroto Saikawa will propose to the Nissan Board of Directors to promptly remove Ghosn from his positions as Chairman and Representative Director. Saikawa will also propose the removal of Greg Kelly from his position as Representative Director.
Nissan deeply apologizes for causing great concern to our shareholders and stakeholders. We will continue our work to identify our governance and compliance issues, and to take appropriate measures.

Nissan will be using next month's LA Auto Show to unveil an updated version of their flagship Maxima sedan.
At first glance, you might be wondering if there any changes - looks the same as the old one. But take a closer look and you notice the new headlights with certain models getting full-LED versions. The V-shaped grille looks be slightly larger and wider, and there are new small intake grilles.
Nissan will also be offering their Safety Shield 360 suite of active safety features that include front and rear automatic emergency braking, blind spot warning, rear cross traffic alert, lane departure warning, and automatic high beams.
Nissan says the Maxima will go sale in December.
There's still a lot of things up in the air, such if there are any changes coming to the interior and powertrain. We'll have more details in a month's time.
Source: Nissan
Nissan Maxima to debut at upcoming Los Angeles Auto Show
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Nissan Maxima, which makes its world debut at the Los Angeles Auto Show, receives a fresh new look for the 2019 model year. The new Maxima will also offer available Nissan Safety Shield 360 technology, a suite of six advanced safety and driver-assist technologies. The 2019 Maxima, the flagship of Nissan’s sedan lineup, goes on sale in December.
View full article

Nissan will be using next month's LA Auto Show to unveil an updated version of their flagship Maxima sedan.
At first glance, you might be wondering if there any changes - looks the same as the old one. But take a closer look and you notice the new headlights with certain models getting full-LED versions. The V-shaped grille looks be slightly larger and wider, and there are new small intake grilles.
Nissan will also be offering their Safety Shield 360 suite of active safety features that include front and rear automatic emergency braking, blind spot warning, rear cross traffic alert, lane departure warning, and automatic high beams.
Nissan says the Maxima will go sale in December.
There's still a lot of things up in the air, such if there are any changes coming to the interior and powertrain. We'll have more details in a month's time.
Source: Nissan
Nissan Maxima to debut at upcoming Los Angeles Auto Show
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Nissan Maxima, which makes its world debut at the Los Angeles Auto Show, receives a fresh new look for the 2019 model year. The new Maxima will also offer available Nissan Safety Shield 360 technology, a suite of six advanced safety and driver-assist technologies. The 2019 Maxima, the flagship of Nissan’s sedan lineup, goes on sale in December.

According to Cars Direct who got access to the ordering guide, Nissan dealers can now order up the Nissan Leaf with the 60 kWh battery pack. The long range EV go into production in January 2019 with Spring 2019 delivery. It now appears that the Leaf will hit the same price as the Chevy Bolt with the top of the line Leaf SL costing $42,500 compared to the fully loaded Bolt at $41,780. Differences is that the Leaf has a 225 mile EPA range where the Bolt is certified at 238 miles.
According to Push EV who says they got their hands on slides and other information on the 60 kWh battery will come with a 160 kW motor replacing the 110 kW motor that comes with the 40 kWh battery. Nissan also has added 100 kW DC fast charging along with 11-22 kW internal charger power. Both of these are upgraded from the current 6,6 kW internal charger power and 50 kW DC fast charging for the 40 kW battery EV. The last piece of info is that Nissan with the new battery pack drops their lack of thermal mgmt. based on using air for a liquid thermal mgmt. system on the new battery pack which is supplied by LG Chemical rather than AESC the provider of the 40 kW battery pack which was owned by Nissan and sold summer 2018 to LG Chem.
Either way there is now 2 alternatives to a Tesla 3 and Nissan and Chevrolet still has their Federal rebate where Tesla is out it seems as of the end of October.
The next question for Nissan that fans have been asking is when is the Nismo version going on sale now that they have their new 60 kWh battery?
Cars Direct Story
Push EV Story

Nissan finds itself in trouble once again as it admitted today that it had improperly measured exhaust emissions and fuel economy for 19 models sold in Japan. According to Reuters, Nissan found that test environments for emissions and fuel economy at final inspection stations didn't meet up to standards. Nissan also found that inspection reports were be based on altered measurements.
The automaker was quick to point out this misconduct doesn't affect models exported to other markets "as it applies to requirements intended specifically for the Japanese market."
“This is a deep and serious issue for our company,” Nissan Chief Operating Officer Yasuhiro Yamauchi told reporters at a briefing today.
"We realize that our compliance awareness remains lacking."
Nissan will be carrying out an investigation to determine the cause, which it expects to take a month or longer.
This comes a few months after Nissan revealed that it had uncertified inspectors signing off on final inspection of JDM models for decades. It prompted a recall of 1.2 million vehicles and suspending production for two weeks.
Source: Reuters

Nissan finds itself in trouble once again as it admitted today that it had improperly measured exhaust emissions and fuel economy for 19 models sold in Japan. According to Reuters, Nissan found that test environments for emissions and fuel economy at final inspection stations didn't meet up to standards. Nissan also found that inspection reports were be based on altered measurements.
The automaker was quick to point out this misconduct doesn't affect models exported to other markets "as it applies to requirements intended specifically for the Japanese market."
“This is a deep and serious issue for our company,” Nissan Chief Operating Officer Yasuhiro Yamauchi told reporters at a briefing today.
"We realize that our compliance awareness remains lacking."
Nissan will be carrying out an investigation to determine the cause, which it expects to take a month or longer.
This comes a few months after Nissan revealed that it had uncertified inspectors signing off on final inspection of JDM models for decades. It prompted a recall of 1.2 million vehicles and suspending production for two weeks.
Source: Reuters
View full article

Nissan's goal in the U.S. for quite some time was increasing its market share. To do this, the company piled on the incentives and sold more vehicles to rental car fleets. While fine in the short-term, the long-term effects would hurt profitability and brand image. This isn't helped by sales declining 6.5 percent this year and a growing supply of vehicles on dealers - Kelly Blue Book reports an 88-day supply of Nissan vehicles.
Nissan is changing its plan for the U.S. Back at the 2018 NADA Show in April, Nissan's U.S. sales chief Dan Mohnke told dealers the company would focus on boosting profitability by reducing inventory. One way to do that is cutting back on production.
The Nikkei Asian Review reports Nissan is slashing production as much as 20% at their North American plants. The cuts are already taking place at Nissan's two plants in the U.S. (Canton and Smyrna, TN) and three in Mexico. No layoffs are expected, instead, workers will have an extra day or two off of work. The cuts are expected to end in the fall when production of the next-generation Altima kicks off. It is expected that the production cut will drop Nissan's U.S. sales for the year by three percent.
Source: Nikkei Asian Review

Nissan's goal in the U.S. for quite some time was increasing its market share. To do this, the company piled on the incentives and sold more vehicles to rental car fleets. While fine in the short-term, the long-term effects would hurt profitability and brand image. This isn't helped by sales declining 6.5 percent this year and a growing supply of vehicles on dealers - Kelly Blue Book reports an 88-day supply of Nissan vehicles.
Nissan is changing its plan for the U.S. Back at the 2018 NADA Show in April, Nissan's U.S. sales chief Dan Mohnke told dealers the company would focus on boosting profitability by reducing inventory. One way to do that is cutting back on production.
The Nikkei Asian Review reports Nissan is slashing production as much as 20% at their North American plants. The cuts are already taking place at Nissan's two plants in the U.S. (Canton and Smyrna, TN) and three in Mexico. No layoffs are expected, instead, workers will have an extra day or two off of work. The cuts are expected to end in the fall when production of the next-generation Altima kicks off. It is expected that the production cut will drop Nissan's U.S. sales for the year by three percent.
Source: Nikkei Asian Review
View full article

UK Sales started on Nissan Energy Solar System
Nissan has announced the start of their all encompassing Solar Energy System. This system has the ability to reduce home electric bills by 66%, increased independence from the national grid and electricity providers and the ability to generate, store and manage energy use overnight. Nissan says even on overcast or rainy days the system will still do all this and provide charging to your Nissan EVs.
Nissan says the basic home system starts at £3,881 and includes the supply and installation of six solar panel system, home energy management system and VAT at 5%. For those that do not speak UK Pound Sterling, this is equal to $5,242.45 at todays 5/17/2018 conversion rate for Dollars.
To get a complete solar panel system plus the XStorage unit that would be installed in your garage, your price starts at £7,635 or $10,313.46 at todays 5/17/2018 conversion rate for Dollars. Nissan is also selling additional storage units for £6,446 or $8,707.34 allowing one to go totally grid free if they so choose to add more panels and storage systems to fully support the house.
The Nissan Solar System allows one to use the Nissan wireless charging mat under their Nissan EV and if you need a bit of extra energy, you can always pull it from your auto battery and then return it later on. This maximizes the efficiency of electrical grid and solar solution.
Nissan UK Solar System web site
Nissan has stayed silent on if or when they plan to bring this to the US. Right now they are focused on the UK, a much smaller market. Yet once they feel this is perfected, it will be a solid competitor to the Tesla SolarCity panels and Powerwall 2 which has seen a large drop in installations since Tesla bought them out. With a 57% drop in installations and what shareholders see as a clear conflict of interest due to the bonds that the Tesla CEO and his family members held, it would see they had more to gain than the shareholders. A Delaware judge is letting the lawsuit move forward creating more headache for CEO Musk.
Solarcity & Powerwall 2 web site
Clearly Nissan has taken ideas on their ideas of a smart street with fluid green energy being used between the auto and the home. For more pictures and info on this check out the story posted March 16 2016 here:
Nissan Press Release
Tesla Solarcity & Powerwall lawsuit

EV Battery War Heats UP, Asia Versus America!
Seems America, Tesla and the department of energy have created the next war. This is the Battery war, Lithium Ion versus Solid State batteries and Japan is behind. As such according to the story in the Nikkei, the Japanese government is funding research by leading Japanese manufacturers to develop what they believe will power the EVs of the future.
This group brings together the Japanese Consortium for Lithium Ion Battery Technology and Evaluation Center (Libtec) with Toyota Motor, Nissan Motor, Honda Motor, Panasonic and battery maker GS Yuasa to develop rapid charging solid-state batteries that are easier to manufacture, safer, denser energy and costs less.
The story goes on to say that Toyota's Solid State battery technology is considered to be the most advanced in the world, but is not commercialized yet. This new consortium is meant to make this happen by being funded by the Japanese government. This should help Japan beat China, Korea and the US in having the fastest charging, safest and densest battery packs in the world. Current market numbers are that global battery market shows Japan had 70% in 2013 but shrunk to 41% today, China and Korea combine for 26% today from 3% in 2013
The consortium is quoted as bringing the smaller but denser 400km Toyota solid state battery pack to market in the next 18 months in current EVs and have the size grow of the solid state batteries grow very little while having 550km batteries by 2025 and 800km batteries by 2030. For those that are a bit rusty on their metric, this equates to 249, 342, and 497 miles of range in a small dense battery pack.
Japan industry ministry is eager for the country to reclaim its global dominance by setting the standard for solid-state batteries.
Nikkei Story

Nissan is joining Toyota in gradually ending the sale of diesel vehicles in Europe.
“Along with other manufacturers and industry bodies we can see the progressive decline of diesel but we do not anticipate its sudden end in the short-term. At this point in time and for many customers, modern diesel engines will remain in demand and continue to be available within Nissan’s powertrain offering,” a Nissan spokeswoman told Reuters.
“In Europe, where our diesel sales are concentrated, our electrification push will allow us to discontinue diesel gradually from passenger cars at the time of each vehicle renewal.”
Sales of diesel vehicles have been on a sharp decline for the past year due in part to rising taxes and possible bans looming. Analysts believe this trend will continue in 2018.
Last month, a source revealed to Reuters that Nissan is planning to lay off hundreds of workers at its Sunderland plant due to falling diesel vehicle sales.
Source: Reuters

Nissan is joining Toyota in gradually ending the sale of diesel vehicles in Europe.
“Along with other manufacturers and industry bodies we can see the progressive decline of diesel but we do not anticipate its sudden end in the short-term. At this point in time and for many customers, modern diesel engines will remain in demand and continue to be available within Nissan’s powertrain offering,” a Nissan spokeswoman told Reuters.
“In Europe, where our diesel sales are concentrated, our electrification push will allow us to discontinue diesel gradually from passenger cars at the time of each vehicle renewal.”
Sales of diesel vehicles have been on a sharp decline for the past year due in part to rising taxes and possible bans looming. Analysts believe this trend will continue in 2018.
Last month, a source revealed to Reuters that Nissan is planning to lay off hundreds of workers at its Sunderland plant due to falling diesel vehicle sales.
Source: Reuters
View full article

Nissan has played it safe for the past couple of generations with the Altima to some success. But with the sales decline in midsize sedans and automakers like Honda and Toyota taking bigger risks with their sedans, Nissan knew that it had to make some ambitious changes with the next Altima. The end result made its debut today at the New York Auto Show.
Nissan didn't go full-on drastic in terms of the exterior like the new Accord or Camry, but the 2019 Altima is very different from the model it replaces. A fair amount of the design - especially in the side profile and lighting come from the 2017 Vmotion 2.0 concept. The front end takes ideas from the larger Maxima - the flowing hood and aggressive bumper - and adds a huge version of Nissan's V-Motion grille. Most dimensions have increased - 1 inch longer, 1.9-inch longer wheelbase, and 0.9-inch wider.
The interior isn't as dramatic as the exterior. Nissan went for a simple and clean look. But there are some key changes. The dashboard has been lowered to help make the interior feel more spacious. An 8-inch touchscreen featuring the latest version of the NissanConnect infotainment system is standard on all Altimas. This includes Apple CarPlay and Android Auto capability.
For power, the base engine is a revised 2.5L four-cylinder pumping out 188 horsepower and 180 pound-feet of torque. Optional is a 2.0L VC-Turbo engine producing 248 horsepower and 273 pound-feet of torque. This is the first Nissan model to get this unique engine that automatically adjusts compression ratio to deliver more power or fuel economy. Both engines come paired with a CVT. Nissan for the first time will offer AWD on the Altima, but only on the 2.5.
Nissan's ProPilot Assist technology will come standard on the SV, SL, and Platinum trims. ProPilot is a semi-autonomous system that keeps you a set distance away from the vehicle in front of you and keeps the vehicle centered in the lane. It will also bring the car to a full stop in heavy traffic situations and start back up when traffic begins to move.
No mention of pricing, but the 2019 Altima arrives at Nissan dealers this fall.
Source: Nissan
Press Release is on Page 2
All-new 2019 Nissan Altima – with Nissan Intelligent Mobility technology, new powertrains and Intelligent All-Wheel Drive – makes world debut at New York International Auto Show
The 2019 Altima goes on sale in the U.S. this fall
NEW YORK – Nissan today revealed the all-new Altima, bringing excitement back to the mid-size sedan segment with expressive styling, an uplifting interior, two new powerplants, the first available Intelligent All-Wheel Drive in a Nissan sedan in the U.S. and advanced Nissan Intelligent Mobility features, including ProPILOT Assist. The 2019 Altima goes on sale in the U.S. in the fall, followed by other global markets at later dates.
The sixth generation of Nissan's best-selling sedan made its world debut at the 2018 New York International Auto Show, alongside the first North American showing of Nissan's Formula E racing car.
"This new Altima builds on 25 years and more than 5.6 million Altima sales to date – but to us, this is just a starting point," said Denis Le Vot, senior vice president, chairman of management committee, Nissan North America, Inc. "That's why we decided to shake up the midsize segment in terms of design, driving enjoyment and technologies that are advanced and affordable."
The new Altima follows the 2018 LEAF in embodying the vision of Nissan Intelligent Mobility, making vehicles more desirable by re-defining how they are driven, powered and integrated into society. A key component is ProPILOT Assist, a single-lane "hands-on" driving assistance technology that eases driver workload by reducing the amount of driver acceleration, steering and braking input under certain driving conditions, such as single-lane highway driving. ProPILOT Assist is standard on the 2019 Altima SV, SL and Platinum grades.
Also new for 2019 is Rear Automatic Braking, which helps the driver detect stationary objects when backing up, and if necessary applies the brakes to help avoid a collision. The addition of Rear Automatic Braking to Nissan Safety Shield creates Safety Shield 360, which provides front, side and rear safety monitoring and intervention technologies – including Automatic Emergency Braking with Pedestrian Detection, Rear Automatic Braking, Lane Departure Warning (LDW), radar-based Blind Spot Warning (BSW), Rear Cross Traffic Alert (RCTA) and High Beam Assist (HBA).
Two new engines are introduced on the all-new Altima. Replacing the previous-generation Altima's 3.5-liter V6 engine is the company's world's first production-ready variable compression turbo inline 4-cylinder. The engine delivers near V6-level performance with 4-cylinder fuel economy. Standard on all 2019 Altima grade levels is a new 2.5-liter DOHC inline 4-cylinder direct-injection engine. More than just the gains in horsepower and torque, the new engine offers improvements in noise, vibration and harshness, along with enhanced fuel economy and cleaner emissions.
The 2019 Altima also offers available Intelligent All-Wheel Drive for the first time ever on an Altima. The AWD system is available on all trim levels equipped with the 2.5-liter 4-cylinder engine.
"We saw that the lack of available all-wheel drive has been a key factor in pushing U.S. buyers who prefer sedans to compact SUVs," said Le Vot. "Of the top three selling midsize sedans in the U.S., only Altima will offer all-wheel drive. We expect this to be a key sales driver, especially for customers in the northern part of the country."
The all-new Altima's expressive design was inspired by the award-winning Nissan Vmotion 2.0 concept. The new Altima is lower, longer and wider than the previous generation with a highly balanced, aggressive stance that includes available 19-inch wheels and tires. Inside, the all-new premium interior features a wide "gliding wing" instrument panel – which accentuates the exterior's low cowl and hood, helping create an open, airy environment.
Key interior comfort and convenience features range from seats with added bolstering for improved holding and support, to standard NissanConnectSM featuring Apple CarPlay™ and Android Auto™ and an 8-inch multi-touch color display.
The 2019 Altima will be offered in a range of trim levels – S, SR, SV, SL and Platinum. All five come equipped with the standard 2.5-liter engine and are available with Intelligent All-Wheel Drive. In addition, the Altima SR and Platinum grades are available with the advanced 2.0-liter VC-Turbo engine (front-wheel drive only). An exclusive launch edition based on the Platinum VC-Turbo will be offered in limited quantities and open for reservations in early summer 2018 (U.S. market only).
View full article

Nissan has played it safe for the past couple of generations with the Altima to some success. But with the sales decline in midsize sedans and automakers like Honda and Toyota taking bigger risks with their sedans, Nissan knew that it had to make some ambitious changes with the next Altima. The end result made its debut today at the New York Auto Show.
Nissan didn't go full-on drastic in terms of the exterior like the new Accord or Camry, but the 2019 Altima is very different from the model it replaces. A fair amount of the design - especially in the side profile and lighting come from the 2017 Vmotion 2.0 concept. The front end takes ideas from the larger Maxima - the flowing hood and aggressive bumper - and adds a huge version of Nissan's V-Motion grille. Most dimensions have increased - 1 inch longer, 1.9-inch longer wheelbase, and 0.9-inch wider.
The interior isn't as dramatic as the exterior. Nissan went for a simple and clean look. But there are some key changes. The dashboard has been lowered to help make the interior feel more spacious. An 8-inch touchscreen featuring the latest version of the NissanConnect infotainment system is standard on all Altimas. This includes Apple CarPlay and Android Auto capability.
For power, the base engine is a revised 2.5L four-cylinder pumping out 188 horsepower and 180 pound-feet of torque. Optional is a 2.0L VC-Turbo engine producing 248 horsepower and 273 pound-feet of torque. This is the first Nissan model to get this unique engine that automatically adjusts compression ratio to deliver more power or fuel economy. Both engines come paired with a CVT. Nissan for the first time will offer AWD on the Altima, but only on the 2.5.
Nissan's ProPilot Assist technology will come standard on the SV, SL, and Platinum trims. ProPilot is a semi-autonomous system that keeps you a set distance away from the vehicle in front of you and keeps the vehicle centered in the lane. It will also bring the car to a full stop in heavy traffic situations and start back up when traffic begins to move.
No mention of pricing, but the 2019 Altima arrives at Nissan dealers this fall.
Source: Nissan
Press Release is on Page 2
All-new 2019 Nissan Altima – with Nissan Intelligent Mobility technology, new powertrains and Intelligent All-Wheel Drive – makes world debut at New York International Auto Show
The 2019 Altima goes on sale in the U.S. this fall
NEW YORK – Nissan today revealed the all-new Altima, bringing excitement back to the mid-size sedan segment with expressive styling, an uplifting interior, two new powerplants, the first available Intelligent All-Wheel Drive in a Nissan sedan in the U.S. and advanced Nissan Intelligent Mobility features, including ProPILOT Assist. The 2019 Altima goes on sale in the U.S. in the fall, followed by other global markets at later dates.
The sixth generation of Nissan's best-selling sedan made its world debut at the 2018 New York International Auto Show, alongside the first North American showing of Nissan's Formula E racing car.
"This new Altima builds on 25 years and more than 5.6 million Altima sales to date – but to us, this is just a starting point," said Denis Le Vot, senior vice president, chairman of management committee, Nissan North America, Inc. "That's why we decided to shake up the midsize segment in terms of design, driving enjoyment and technologies that are advanced and affordable."
The new Altima follows the 2018 LEAF in embodying the vision of Nissan Intelligent Mobility, making vehicles more desirable by re-defining how they are driven, powered and integrated into society. A key component is ProPILOT Assist, a single-lane "hands-on" driving assistance technology that eases driver workload by reducing the amount of driver acceleration, steering and braking input under certain driving conditions, such as single-lane highway driving. ProPILOT Assist is standard on the 2019 Altima SV, SL and Platinum grades.
Also new for 2019 is Rear Automatic Braking, which helps the driver detect stationary objects when backing up, and if necessary applies the brakes to help avoid a collision. The addition of Rear Automatic Braking to Nissan Safety Shield creates Safety Shield 360, which provides front, side and rear safety monitoring and intervention technologies – including Automatic Emergency Braking with Pedestrian Detection, Rear Automatic Braking, Lane Departure Warning (LDW), radar-based Blind Spot Warning (BSW), Rear Cross Traffic Alert (RCTA) and High Beam Assist (HBA).
Two new engines are introduced on the all-new Altima. Replacing the previous-generation Altima's 3.5-liter V6 engine is the company's world's first production-ready variable compression turbo inline 4-cylinder. The engine delivers near V6-level performance with 4-cylinder fuel economy. Standard on all 2019 Altima grade levels is a new 2.5-liter DOHC inline 4-cylinder direct-injection engine. More than just the gains in horsepower and torque, the new engine offers improvements in noise, vibration and harshness, along with enhanced fuel economy and cleaner emissions.
The 2019 Altima also offers available Intelligent All-Wheel Drive for the first time ever on an Altima. The AWD system is available on all trim levels equipped with the 2.5-liter 4-cylinder engine.
"We saw that the lack of available all-wheel drive has been a key factor in pushing U.S. buyers who prefer sedans to compact SUVs," said Le Vot. "Of the top three selling midsize sedans in the U.S., only Altima will offer all-wheel drive. We expect this to be a key sales driver, especially for customers in the northern part of the country."
The all-new Altima's expressive design was inspired by the award-winning Nissan Vmotion 2.0 concept. The new Altima is lower, longer and wider than the previous generation with a highly balanced, aggressive stance that includes available 19-inch wheels and tires. Inside, the all-new premium interior features a wide "gliding wing" instrument panel – which accentuates the exterior's low cowl and hood, helping create an open, airy environment.
Key interior comfort and convenience features range from seats with added bolstering for improved holding and support, to standard NissanConnectSM featuring Apple CarPlay™ and Android Auto™ and an 8-inch multi-touch color display.
The 2019 Altima will be offered in a range of trim levels – S, SR, SV, SL and Platinum. All five come equipped with the standard 2.5-liter engine and are available with Intelligent All-Wheel Drive. In addition, the Altima SR and Platinum grades are available with the advanced 2.0-liter VC-Turbo engine (front-wheel drive only). An exclusive launch edition based on the Platinum VC-Turbo will be offered in limited quantities and open for reservations in early summer 2018 (U.S. market only).

The fate of the Nissan Z has been up the air for a number of years. One minute, it seems the Z will be killed off. The next, Nissan is figuring out how to keep the Z alive. This brings us neatly to a report from Autocar which says a new Z car is expected in 2020. But after reading this report, we have some questions as to the validity of this information.
According to "senior officials from Nissan," the new Z car has the codename of Z35 and will share a number of components with the Infiniti Q60 Coupe including the rear-drive platform and engines. Using the Q60's platform would make the Z a bit larger - the Q60's length is 17 inches longer and the wheelbase is about a foot longer.
Power will come from a twin-turbo 3.0L V6 engine from the Q50 and Q60 producing 400 horsepower. There will also be a high-performance NISMO model that will use a re-tuned version of the twin-turbo V6 to produce 475 horsepower and be paired with an all-wheel drive system.
But this report has a huge red flag.
Emphasis ours. The issue is that there will not be a 2018 Tokyo Moto Show. It is a bi-annual auto show. The last one took place in 2017, meaning the next one will not happen till 2019. This also puts a red flag on the reveal of the production model at the 2019 LA Auto Show.
This report comes a week after another rumor about the Z car was debunked. Japanese site Response reported that Nissan has asked their partner Mercedes-Benz on developing a new Z car. Using a Mercedes-Benz platform, the new Z would be offered with two engines. A 2.0L turbo-four from Mercedes as the base and the twin-turbo V6 from Infiniti. But as Japanese Nostalgic Car notes in their report, "the automotive rumor mill in Japan is like 1990s Motor Trend on crack." The partnership between Nissan and Diamler hit a rough patch earlier this year as Reuters reported that Infiniti would not use Mercedes' MFA2 modular platform due to cost issues. The new QX50 which was supposed to be the Infiniti vehicle to use this new platform would instead use its own unique platform.
Motor Trend would deliver the final nail in the coffin of this rumor. According to their sources, Mercedes and Nissan did talk about the possibility of working together on a new platform that would be shared between the Z and SLC roadster. But these talks reportedly went nowhere. Also, Mercedes is planning to kill off the SLC once production of the current model ends.
We know that Nissan does want to keep the Z alive from comments made by Philippe Klein, Nissan's chief planning officer back in January.
As of right now, your guess is as good as ours.
Source: Autocar

The fate of the Nissan Z has been up the air for a number of years. One minute, it seems the Z will be killed off. The next, Nissan is figuring out how to keep the Z alive. This brings us neatly to a report from Autocar which says a new Z car is expected in 2020. But after reading this report, we have some questions as to the validity of this information.
According to "senior officials from Nissan," the new Z car has the codename of Z35 and will share a number of components with the Infiniti Q60 Coupe including the rear-drive platform and engines. Using the Q60's platform would make the Z a bit larger - the Q60's length is 17 inches longer and the wheelbase is about a foot longer.
Power will come from a twin-turbo 3.0L V6 engine from the Q50 and Q60 producing 400 horsepower. There will also be a high-performance NISMO model that will use a re-tuned version of the twin-turbo V6 to produce 475 horsepower and be paired with an all-wheel drive system.
But this report has a huge red flag.
Emphasis ours. The issue is that there will not be a 2018 Tokyo Moto Show. It is a bi-annual auto show. The last one took place in 2017, meaning the next one will not happen till 2019. This also puts a red flag on the reveal of the production model at the 2019 LA Auto Show.
This report comes a week after another rumor about the Z car was debunked. Japanese site Response reported that Nissan has asked their partner Mercedes-Benz on developing a new Z car. Using a Mercedes-Benz platform, the new Z would be offered with two engines. A 2.0L turbo-four from Mercedes as the base and the twin-turbo V6 from Infiniti. But as Japanese Nostalgic Car notes in their report, "the automotive rumor mill in Japan is like 1990s Motor Trend on crack." The partnership between Nissan and Diamler hit a rough patch earlier this year as Reuters reported that Infiniti would not use Mercedes' MFA2 modular platform due to cost issues. The new QX50 which was supposed to be the Infiniti vehicle to use this new platform would instead use its own unique platform.
Motor Trend would deliver the final nail in the coffin of this rumor. According to their sources, Mercedes and Nissan did talk about the possibility of working together on a new platform that would be shared between the Z and SLC roadster. But these talks reportedly went nowhere. Also, Mercedes is planning to kill off the SLC once production of the current model ends.
We know that Nissan does want to keep the Z alive from comments made by Philippe Klein, Nissan's chief planning officer back in January.
As of right now, your guess is as good as ours.
Source: Autocar
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2018 Leaf versus 2017 BOLT Battery Life
Seems to be very straightforward and easy to understand in this comparison of Liquid thermal management of the BOLT battery versus the new Leaf Passive air thermal management of their battery.
This guy as a College professor has followed and torn into the EV auto's. He comes out stating that the New Leaf if not improved and clearly will not have the life that the BOLT will have for battery. Easy to follow and very interesting as he points out numerous issues with the Leaf and all the DO NOT DO, Example, do not plug it in right after driving it, do not use rapid DC chargers and do not leave the auto in a hot environment. This in comparison to you can Rapid Charge the BOLT, you can Plug it in right after driving, even the VOLT is superior to the Leaf based on this guys review and having his students rip into them to understand the tech better.
GM has built one of the best Thermal Management Battery packs.

January is usually not a strong month for car sales as it just after the holidays and people don't have the money to buy a new car. This is reflected in our January sales figure ticker where most automakers post small increases and decreases. There were some automakers that posted some surprising numbers. Nissan reported a 10 percent increase and Toyota noted an impressive 16.8 percent rise. The two automakers credit their utility as a key reason for the rise. But Bloomberg reports there is another reason for these rises.
Pulling data from Cox Automotive, Bloomberg found out that fleet deliveries for the month rose 46 percent for Nissan and 69 percent for Toyota. Most of the sales came from rental car companies.
“If you want to claim 10 percent market share, that’s a way to do it. The danger is that you create a large number of late-model used cars that will compete with your new cars and bring down prices and profits,” said Maryann Keller, an independent auto industry consultant.
A number of automakers have been turning away from fleet sales for this very reason. GM which has been a poster child for fleet sales has been cutting back.
Toyota spokeswoman Amanda Roark told Bloomberg that fleet deliveries will be lower during the second half of this year and will likely make up "about 10 percent of its total U.S. sales in 2018." Judy Wheeler, Nissan vice president of U.S. sales explained the increase in fleet sales was due to them clearing out 2017 models to make way for 2018 models.
“It’s really just a timing situation for us,” she said.
It needs to be noted that Nissan has been increasing their sales to fleets within the past year.
Source: Bloomberg

January is usually not a strong month for car sales as it just after the holidays and people don't have the money to buy a new car. This is reflected in our January sales figure ticker where most automakers post small increases and decreases. There were some automakers that posted some surprising numbers. Nissan reported a 10 percent increase and Toyota noted an impressive 16.8 percent rise. The two automakers credit their utility as a key reason for the rise. But Bloomberg reports there is another reason for these rises.
Pulling data from Cox Automotive, Bloomberg found out that fleet deliveries for the month rose 46 percent for Nissan and 69 percent for Toyota. Most of the sales came from rental car companies.
“If you want to claim 10 percent market share, that’s a way to do it. The danger is that you create a large number of late-model used cars that will compete with your new cars and bring down prices and profits,” said Maryann Keller, an independent auto industry consultant.
A number of automakers have been turning away from fleet sales for this very reason. GM which has been a poster child for fleet sales has been cutting back.
Toyota spokeswoman Amanda Roark told Bloomberg that fleet deliveries will be lower during the second half of this year and will likely make up "about 10 percent of its total U.S. sales in 2018." Judy Wheeler, Nissan vice president of U.S. sales explained the increase in fleet sales was due to them clearing out 2017 models to make way for 2018 models.
“It’s really just a timing situation for us,” she said.
It needs to be noted that Nissan has been increasing their sales to fleets within the past year.
Source: Bloomberg
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